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A Very Different Year - Nimrod54's 2020, 1/144 Armory Bf 109E's added 30-12-20.


nimrod54

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This year has definitely been different for all of us, and like many of you I for one will be happy to leave it behind on the 31st December. However, from a modelling point of view this years events have helped to add to the number of completed builds, making it my most successful year since I joined Britmodeller. I hope that you enjoy looking at my achievements so far.

 

As usual the first few are from Group Builds that started at the back end of 2019, but the models were finished in 2020.

 

First up was this 1/72 Revell kit of a Netherlands based Hawker Hunter, completed on January 8th.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

HMS Ajax was my choice for the Film, Fictional and Speculative Group Build (GB), a kit I remember building in my early teens. It was the first time I had used etch and 3D printed parts on any naval subject and included etch for a 1/600 Fairey Seafox. This one was completed at the end of January

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Continuing with the River Plate theme, I had completed this 1/72 Matchbox Fairey Seafox by mid March.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Meanwhile I had also started a series of builds for the Scandinavian GB, and this 1/144 Mark 1 kit of  a Norwegian TF-104G was the first completed.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The next of the trio of builds to be completed was this Airfix Sky King boxing of the Caravelle, finished as a Danish registered aircraft in Scandinavian Airlines System original delivery scheme.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The final build for this GB would be a 1/72 Airfix Saab Draken. I rescribed the kit, dropped the wing control surfaces and added a few aftermarket parts including an Aries resin cockpit.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Early successes were soon followed by a couple of FTF's (Failed to Finish) in the Lancaster STGB and In the Navy GB, but I was back on a roll in the Spitfire, Seafire GB with this French Spitfire Mk.IX.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Fellow Britmodeller @Hockeyboy76 kindly sent me a Mark 1 boxing of a couple of FW-190's in 1/144 scale to help me through the time that I spent having to shield, here are the finished results.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

For the Kit You Built as a Kid GB I chose the Westland Scout from Airfix, built straight from the box and finished using the Jordanian markings, yes one of the flags on the rear is the wrong way round. :)

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Having tried and failed several times previously, I had my first Blitzbuild success this year too. This Platz 1/144 Lightning F.6 just scraped over the line.

 

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by John L, on Flickr 

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

A couple of builds were completed for the Helicopter, Auto-Gyro and STOVL GB, starting with this 1/144 Westland Wessex...

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

... and this OOB build of an Airfix GR.7 was the next subject, another kit donated by Hockeyboy76.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

In between the Wessex and the Harrier builds I wrapped up a Buccaneer Trials Aircraft using the old Airfix kit, Neomega resin sets and some Airwaves etch.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The August Blitzbuild saw another couple of finishes for the year, completing these two Bandai Star Wars snap kits over the Bank Holiday weekend.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The Battle of Britain 80th Anniversary GB was due to end on the 31st October and I had been working on a couple of aircraft involved in an action over Liverpool. This was a first kill for 312 Czech squadron and Sgt. Josef Stehlik was the pilot of one of the Hurricane Mk.1's (Airfix 1/72) involved in shooting down a Ju.88 A-1 (Revell 1/72).

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

We are almost at the end of the year now and these are my most recent finishes. This 1/144 Revell Tornado GR.1, completed last weekend, was finished in XV Squadron markings when at the TWCU, RAF Lossiemouth.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Then over this weekend I finished this 1/72 Revell Hawk T.1 using Model Decal Set 116 for the RAF Valley Solo Hawk Display 1992.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

So that was my year so far. I still have a second Tornado that I am trying to wrap up for this weekend, but it should be finished before the year end and there may be another couple of candidates that could also be finished - the Lancaster is very close, only needing the propeller blades fixing in place, so there really is no excuse for that not being completed.

 

If you have got this far, then thanks for sticking with the ramblings and Merry Christmas :santa: and here's hoping for a better 2021.

 

 

Finished on 20th December 2020

 

Here is the 9 Squadron GR4 mentioned at the end of the earlier posting, I scratch built the FLIR pod and the missing intake under the nose and rediscovered a Freightdog resin set that I bought a few years ago which contained a TIALD pod, so that was added along with a Master brass pitot to update the Revell 1/144 kit.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Completed 22nd December 2020

 

I finally wrapped up this A Model 1/144 Lancaster adding the prop blades and other ancillaries over the previous couple of days, it was built in the main out of the box, the only changes being the replacement of the gun barrels with some brass micro tubing and a few bits of scratch built detail around the cockpit.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

Completed 30th December 2020

I have completed what will probably be the final builds for this year. This pair of Armory 1/144 Bf 109E's were my entries for Blitzenbuild 2020, on the right is an E-3 of II/JG 3, flown by Franz von Werra when he was shot down over Kent in May 1940. On the left is an E-7 of I/JG 26 piloted by Josef 'Pips' Priller late 1940.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

 

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  • nimrod54 changed the title to A Very Different Year - Nimrod54's 2020

Fantastic collection John :thumbsup:  My favourite is the Caravelle - lovely job.

 

Merry Christmas to you & yours - lets hope 2021 is a good one  - Steve :santa:

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10 hours ago, BIG X said:

Fantastic collection John :thumbsup:  My favourite is the Caravelle - lovely job.

 

Merry Christmas to you & yours - lets hope 2021 is a good one  - Steve :santa:

 

Thanks a lot Steve. The Caravelle was nice kit to put together and being one of the early releases of the kit the parts fit was very good.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your family too mate - I am sure that next year will be an improvement on this one.

 

Cheers

John

 

9 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

A great collection here my good modelling buddy, a productive year. 

 

Cheers H, I am glad that you like 'em buddy. It was a surprise to me to see how much plastic welding I had done this year. :winkgrin:

 

Merry Christmas to you and the rest of the family matey. Have fun with Little H. 

 

John

 

9 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

What a cracking modelling year John. That’s one hell of a great collection and all are finished off to amazing standards. 

Cheers, well modelled and Merry Christmas.. Dave 

 

Thanks very much Dave. The time confined to barracks has definitely allowed me to hone some of the acquired skills, still  'Room for improvement' as my school reports would confirm.

 

Merry Christmas, squire. John

 

9 hours ago, Ernst said:

Fantastic collection. Much respect for the 1/144 models. That Hawker hunter is is one of the most beautiful planes ever.

Cheers,

Ernst.

 

Cheers Ernst and thanks for your comment. Now I wonder why you picked the Leeuwarden based Hawker Hunter, I chose it because it had its first flight in January 1954, a month before I was born . :) 

All the best for the festive season

John

 

7 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Nice collection John.

 

Thanks Ozzy, nice to see you dropping by again.

 

Merry Christmas bud.

John

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11 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Now I wonder why you picked the Leeuwarden based Hawker Hunter, I chose it because it had its first flight in January 1954, a month before I was born . :) 

 

I was born just just a few miles east of Leeuwarden 😃. Apart from chauvinistic tendencies, the hunter together with the spitfire and me262 are probably my favorite aircraft. Merry Christmas,

Ernst.

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1 hour ago, Ernst said:

 

I was born just just a few miles east of Leeuwarden 😃. Apart from chauvinistic tendencies, the hunter together with the spitfire and me262 are probably my favorite aircraft. Merry Christmas,

Ernst.

 

We visited Leeuwarden a few years ago whilst staying with our son and daughter-in-law, I remember sitting outside in bright February sunshine having coffee. He is living in Groningen and works at the university.

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Leeuwarden is a charming town, I've been there quite a lot when I was a kid. There's even a leaning tower and in the museum you can find the 7 feet sword of the mighty "Grutte Pier", a mythical Frysian warrior. It's good to have a "pied a terre" in the vicinity. 

Cheers,

Ernst.

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  • nimrod54 changed the title to A Very Different Year - Nimrod54's 2020 now including another two finished builds.

As mentioned in the OP there was a likelihood of another two completed builds for the year. I wrapped up my 1/144 Tornado GR.4 over the weekend and finished it in a 9 Squadron anniversary scheme, based at RAF Marham in 2015. I scratched a FLIR pod, added a RetroWings LRMTS pod, Master pitot and found a TIALD pod in a Freightdog resin set that I had forgotten about. 

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

and here it is alongside the GR.1 build, both being built for the Tornado STGB.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

The second completion was my entry for the Lancaster STGB which I failed to complete on time in June. The model has been without prop blades and aerials since, not really much left to do. I set about adding the last few bits yesterday and gave it an acrylic satin coat this morning.

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

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by John L, on Flickr

 

I may get one more finished before New Year, but this might be it for this year.

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Wow. So much to like! I generally have a favourite when I look at yearbooks, but this one has me going “this’n’this’n’this’n’this’n...”.

 

Great and diverse selection of builds. And can you really hang that much off a Harrier and still get airborne?

 

Regards,

Adrian

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6 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. You have had a fantastic year of modelling. Great range of models all superbly made too. Very well done.

Kind regards, 

Stix

 

 

Thanks Stix. I hope that we all have a better reason for making a few less next year, but this year has helped to reduce the kit pile a bit.

 

Cheers

John

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  • nimrod54 changed the title to A Very Different Year - Nimrod54's 2020, 1/144 Armory Bf 109E's added 30-12-20.
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 08/01/2021 at 20:19, JWM said:

Very nice large set of the tinny (1/144) subjects! Well executed indeed

Regards

J-W

 

 

Thanks for your comment J-W, and please accept my apologies for not getting back to you sooner.

 

Cheers

John

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  • 1 month later...

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